1. Field of the Invention
An electrical connector arrangement includes a resilient contact adapted for direct engagement with the bare wire of an insulated conductor without the use of any assembly tool, characterized in that the resilient contact includes a first leg having a first end containing a window opening, a second leg having a first end extending at an acute angle through the window opening for clamping engagement with a conductor bare wire that is also inserted in the same direction into the window opening, and a connecting portion connecting the other ends of the first and second legs to define a closed loop. A bus bar supports the resilient contact first leg and is provided with a projection that extends into the window opening between the conductor bare wire and the associated edge of the window opening.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known in the patented prior art to provide electrical connectors for connecting the bare wire at one end of an insulated conductor with a bus bar or the like, as evidenced by the prior patents to Delarue, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,204; Hartmann U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,940; Beege, et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,938,484, 6,261,120, and 6,280,233; and Despang U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,162, among others. In these known devices, connection terminals for single-wire or multi-wire electrical conductors have been proposed in direct plug technology, where a bus bar with a recess and a collar engages a U-shaped resilient clamping contact. While, on the one hand, this arrangement provides for an easy assembly of the components, it does present the problem that one must exert a relatively large force when connecting or disconnecting the conductors on other components of the connection device, for example, as a bus bar or a housing formed from an insulating material.
The present invention was developed to avoid the above and other drawbacks of the known connector systems.